Freshman Timea Guibe picked up a win in singles, but the Bulldogs fell 4-2 to Missouri.

Photo Courtesy of Bill Simmonds

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Mississippi State women’s tennis team began their final regular season road swing on Friday on a tough note, falling 4-2 to Missouri.

With the loss, the Bulldogs dropped to 9-13 on the season and 1-11 in the SEC. The Tigers improved to 7-19 and 1-11 in conference play.

Mississippi State fell behind early in doubles, as the duo of Petra Ferancova and Georgiana Patrasc fell 8-0 on court 3 to MU’s Kelli Hine and Cassidy Spearman. However, the Bulldogs would rebound with comeback victories on courts 1 and 2.

On No. 1, 56th-ranked Bulldogs Alexandra Perper and Naomi Tran rallied from 7-4 down to defeat Cierra Gaytan-Leach and Rachel Stuhlmann 8-7(4). State would then clinch the doubles point, thanks to a hard-fought 8-6 win on No. 2 by Rosie Dion and Timea Guibe, who also came back from an early deficit, defeating Alex Clark and Madison Rhyner.

Missouri would get off to a hot start in singles play, quickly regaining the momentum by winning three straight matches. The first came on court 6, as MSU’s Rosalinda Calderon fell 6-3, 6-3 to Spearman. Court 2 would be the next to finish, where State’s Perper dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision to MU’s Hine. MSU’s 66th-ranked Patrasc then fell on No. 1 in a very close affair, 6-4, 6-4 to Gaytan-Leach. It was Patrasc’s first singles loss since March 7.

Down 3-1, the Bulldogs would continue to fight, as Guibe earned a tough 6-4, 6-3 win on court 3 over Stuhlmann. However, Missouri would end the match just moments later, as Alex Clark completed a 6-4, 6-4 win on court 5 over Tran after the Bulldog junior had won three straight games to close the second-set margin.

Singles play was suspended with MSU’s Rosie Dion on the brink of a win, leading 7-5, 5-3 over Missouri’s Madison Rhyner at No. 4.

The Bulldogs will conclude the 2014 regular season at No. 10 Texas A&M on Sunday in a Noon CT matchup. Live stats will be provided via aggieathletics.com.

For more information on the Mississippi State women’s tennis team, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter (@HailStateWT), Facebook (HailStateWT) and Instagram (HailStateWT).